Unclaimed money: Do you have a stake in the $405m cash grab?

One in four NSW residents are owed a share in more than $400 million in unclaimed money and time is running out to claim it. Search your name or family.

A multimillion-dollar cash stash is sitting in company and NSW Government coffers waiting to be claimed by around one in four unwitting residents.

Exclusive data obtained by The Daily Telegraph from Sydney-based money recovery firm Nationwide Claims Services reveals that more than $405 million in unclaimed money is owed to around 1.15 million NSW residents.

The money is in the form of shares, bank accounts, expired life insurance policies, deceased estates and refunds and is held by departments like ASIC and Revenue NSW.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese are among the millions of people unaware of their long lost loot.

According to Nationwide Claims Director Maurice Pratt, one in four people have some claim to the missing millions.

“If you leave the money, you’re at risk of losing it. I encourage people to check if they’re owed money and recover those funds,” he said.

The biggest amount owing is $1.3 million to Buildspect Pty Ltd, a building inspection consultant company and $1 million to the Estate of Maria Okinczyc, a Polish immigrant and former prisoner of war.

Maria Okinczyc’s estate remains unclaimed.

It includes $1.07 million in unclaimed money.

Mr Morrison is owed more than $2000 in unclaimed money by AMP Limited while Mr Albanese is owed $266 by the Inner West Council.

Most government departments only hold the money for three to seven years before it is absorbed into consolidated revenue, at which point you're no longer allowed to recover the funds.

According to Mr Pratt, most people don’t claim the money simply because they didn’t know it was there.

“For some people it’s an unpresented cheque, shares they were given but didn’t realise, dividends, a deposit, an old bank account, expired life insurance policy. Any money owed by a company,” he said.

“It’s just sitting there until people claim it.”

To claim the money, you can contact the organisations directly with proof of your identity or you visit findunclaimedmoney.com.au.